• So Many Books So Little Time Interview

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    Sophia Sturtuvant of Portland, Maine did a beautiful reading from Either the Beginning or the End of the World as part of the PPM-TV production and broadcast of a discussion of the novel. Sherry Evans (pictured below) hosted the show and the wonderful and engaged audience joined Sherry and me as we explored the novel. READ MORE

  • Racial Awareness and Children’s Literature

    I created a session for the New England Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ conference entitled, Stepping into Writing Across Culture.  The following begins my posts on the subject.  I offer my journey in these posts as a white writer who writes books about people in cultures not my own. I’ve been studying white privilege as a key factor in the discussion of the responsibility of  white children’s book creators who seek to portray cultures outside their own experience.

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  • Joseph’s Big Ride in Three Languages at Broken Ground School

    Joseph’s Big Ride got a magnificent launch at Concord, New Hampshire’s Broken Ground School with students from many refugee families.  I came for Family Night. Everybody  got ice cream sundaes, then came and listened to the story in the gym. Families were from all parts of the world and many families were from Rwanda and Bhutan. So the best part of sharing a story written only  in English is that I read with two colleagues, one from Bhutan, READ MORE

  • “Chnam Oun 16” and Either the Beginning or the End

    bo-sf-CREDIT-HeathOrchardWhen I heard the song “I am 16” – “Chnam Oun 16” – by Bochan, I thought she must speak for so many Cambodian daughters, mothers, and grandmothers with her gripping lyrics of survival. And Bochan has just said, Yes, we can use her song as the audio for a book trailer for Either the Beginning,  and I think nothing in the world could honor my character Sofie and her family more.  Thank you, Bochan. Her dad was a pop musician in Cambodia in the early 1970s, playing psychedelic music brought to South East Asia from the west.  Bochan brings his version – and her own interpretation – to America. Bochan writes, “I get to chose my identify.”  Sofie wants this same thing. READ MORE

  • Illustrating Love: Nickie Tadgell on Art for REAL SISTERS PRETEND

    Nickie Cover_inProgress2

    Cover in Progress 2

    I met illustrator Nickie Tadgell at a We Need Diverse Books event at Annie’s Book Swap in Worcester, Massachusetts. Nickie is the illustrator of many books including the beautiful FATUMA’S NEW CLOTH by Leslie Builion.  Nickie’s just illustrated a new book, REAL SISTERS PRETEND by Megan Dowd Lambert, the story of a mixed race family with two adopted daughters of different races. The sisters aren’t described in the text. The READ MORE